RainsWriter(Blog)

Authors Note: A recent encounter with a garden snake reminded me of this memorable event.

​Late dusk, colors have disappeared and the soft grey of night gently unfolds. It is the time I usually bring in the bird feeders. Hummingbirds feed later than other birds so I wait.

This evening there was a huge rope on the top railing of the deck surround. I reached to pick it up wondering who had left it there. Then it moved. Only a millisecond passed as I squeaked and flew into the house.

​Turning on the porch light and peeking out, I saw the largest snake I have ever seen (except in zoos) slithering down the lattice off the deck. I grabbed the flashlight and went back outside to try to identify him.

About 5 to 8 inches of his tail still remained on the top railing. I thought as I looked at the tail, “He is not a rattler!” His head was just touching the ground. What childish impulse possessed me to grab that last bit of tail? The snake threw himself loose from my grasp. He was strong! If I had had a firmer grip, there is no doubt that he would have whipped me right off the deck.

​Shining the flashlight on this serpent as he lay in the flower bed foliage, (probably shocked into inactivity by the tail grab) I could see he was a beautiful silver grey with yellow spots. The snake’s head was not visible, already hidden under the deck. I didn’t feel brave enough to go off the deck and face him.

The head of a poisonous snake has an arrowhead shape. Non-poisonous snake heads are more rectangular. This was a serious need-to-know situation. A girlfriend and her grandson were coming for a visit the next day. I had to find out what kind of snake this was.

​Having no luck on the internet, I called a country boy. My friend said he wondered, since it was so large, if it had been an escapee pet--like an anaconda or python.

The next morning still in pursuit of snake knowledge, I went the Alexandria Public Library and looked at all their books on reptiles. No luck. I mentioned it to June Dunning and a young man at one of the computer terminals said, “Oh, that was a chicken snake. They can grow very large.”

Then, a friend, Jo, told me about an experience her husband had had with a chicken snake. When her husband went out to collect eggs at dusk, a chicken snake was in one of the nests eating the eggs. Her husband, not seeing the snake and reaching into the nest, was bitten. I learned that a chicken snake, although not poisonous, has a strong and painful bite--enough break the skin. Ask Jo’s husband!I’m glad the chicken snake, also known as a rat snake, is here and I was given the opportunity to see him. I hope that he is killing the millions of moles in the yard. Maybe I scared the snake enough that he won’t be stalking the birds at the feeders. I, for sure, don’t go barefooted outside in the evening anymore. A tape measure confirmed the distance from railing to ground to be six feet, two inches! I learned chicken snakes can grow up to eight feet long.

St Augustine, who lived from 354 to 430 said, “Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Note it. Read it. God, who you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead he set before your eyes the things that he has made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?” Thanks, God, for a safe snake encounter. Believe me, I’m looking below quite often.